Saint Spritz, created by sisters-in-law JoJo Fletcher (of “The Bachelorette” fame) and Mallory Patton, offers a wine-based collection of canned spritzes. Inspired by a love for classic Italian flavors, the cocktail brand was launched. We asked the duo a few questions to learn more about their endeavor.
What inspired you to start Saint Spritz? Was there a personal moment that led to the idea?
We were on a family trip in Italy and became obsessed with spritzes, especially the bright orange spritzes everyone was seeing all over Instagram, “The White Lotus,” etc. It became more than a drink to our family; it was a ritual of aperitivo hour. We were drinking them all the time and realized they never tasted consistent, and we saw that we were pouring a ton of prosecco down the drain from half-used bottles. We went to the grocery store to search for ready-to-drink spritzes, and couldn’t find any that captured not only the taste but the vibes of our favorite iconic Italian spritzes. When we looked closer at the tiny ingredient label of our favorite bright orange spritzes, and saw Red Dye 40, Yellow 6, and added sugar. We knew we had to create something of our own. So Saint Spritz was born out of a need for something we wanted for ourselves that didn’t exist.
What’s been the most rewarding part of building Saint Spritz so far?
Being able to see our spritzes out in the wild at stores and on Instagram, with people sharing them across the USA. We wanted to bring the ritual of aperitivo hour to the US consumer — a time to slow down with your loved ones and enjoy a delicious cocktail together.
Who is the target customer for Saint Spritz?
Honestly, anyone who wants to enjoy a better-for-you, ready-for-you spritz. We see a good amount of our customers being millennials who have retired from rosé all day. We find that a lot of consumers don’t typically drink RTDs and are pleasantly surprised that these “actually taste good!” We did not create our drink from the lens that a lot of the huge companies do: the cheapest ingredients and formula. We lead only with taste, so we are very proud of our liquid. So if you love a full-flavored canned cocktail, Saint Spritz is for you.
How did you come up with the brand name Saint Spritz?
It was actually first called Le Spritz, but we learned we couldn’t trademark that. Initially, it was such a letdown because we had been using the name in all of our conversations. But it was a blessing in disguise. It was Mallory’s husband who reframed the setback and said, “Have you ever heard of Blue Ribbon?” That was the original name before Phil Knight landed on “Nike.” The name for the brand would come after we hit this roadblock. When we thought of all the places we loved drinking a spritz (St Barths, Saint-Tropez, Saint Moritz), the light bulb went on: Saint Spritz!
What was the process like developing the flavor profile?
It was very long! We wanted to nail the flavor and color, which is very hard to do with natural ingredients. At the same time, it was very fun to mix up the flavors and perfect the spritzes. The Amalfi was the hardest for two reasons — it was our first flavor, so we were learning, and it is the most complex. We went back and forth for months. We would snail mail back and forth with the team, then we would fly out for a day in the lab. We would leave there after a 12-hour travel day (sometimes we would travel 12 hours and then fly back the same day — which is crazy looking back), and we would think we nailed it. Then we would receive the flavor we left thinking was perfect, and yet it tasted nothing like we had imagined in the moment. The whole process is mind-blowing, but so cool to learn about. After many renditions of our Amalfi flavor, we finally nailed it, and I think having such in-depth back-and-forth on our initial flavor helped us better and more efficiently execute on our Hugo and Sicily flavor profiles!
When visiting the Hamptons, what does a perfect day look like?
We recently stayed in Montauk to celebrate summer and the launch in the New York market. Hotel of choice: Offshore Montauk. Coffee and breakfast at Joni’s, cruising town with coffee in hand (hot girl walk), pitstop by White’s to pick up Saint Spritz, laying on the beach, lunch at Duryea’s Montauk or low-key Blue Crush for acai bowls, for a casual night — pizzas and fire pit vibes at Marram — or to get dressed up, dinner and cocktails (Saint Spritz of course) at Mary Lou’s.
